25th Anniversary Gala

Wow, what an incredible evening!! On Friday, October 14, 2022, around 200 guests gathered at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Kids’ Chance of Pennsylvania.

We had a room full of amazing silent auction items to bid on as well as an array of raffle items that our guests were able to browse during cocktail hour. Kids’ Chance of PA President Liz Crum opened the evening with a welcome to our guests and an introduction to our emcee for the evening, Scott Bogdan, a longtime supporter of KCPA. Guests were treated to a video of past Board members and past and present scholarship recipients sharing their stories of how KCPA got started and how these scholarships have helped. It was truly inspirational – and it was produced by a KCPA alumnus, Gianluca Catalini!

We heard some remarks from President-Elect Rob Alcock, who introduced our keynote speaker, Suzanne Emmet, SVP of Claims at Eastern Alliance Insurance Group. Suzanne has been involved in Kids’ Chance of PA nearly from the beginning, and she shared her “why” behind her dedication to our mission. Suzanne also announced the establishment of the Lewis and Julia Zimmerman Memorial Endowment, which is named in memory of her grandparents, and presented the first award to Chase Forberger, a junior at St. Francis University. Chase’s speech touched us all. We will have information on our website about how to donate to this endowment fund and our general endowment fund shortly.

The presentation portion of the evening closed out with a spirited live auction of a week at an Italian villa! Guests hit the dance floor to the tunes of Element 22, and we ended on a high note with our raffle and auction award winners. It looks like a great time was had by all!

Pictures are available for viewing HERE. The video produced by alumnus Gianluca Catalini that was shown at the Gala is in our LinkedIn post HERE. You can view Liz Crum’s Welcome Speech HERE and Suzanne Emmet’s Keynote Speech, with introduction by Rob Alcock and scholarship acceptance speech by Chase Forberger HERE. These last two videos along with the event photos were produced by Iredia Ekhato Photography.

For 25 years, Kids’ Chance of Pennsylvania (KCPA) has been providing scholarship grants to deserving Pennsylvania students whose parent or guardian has suffered a work-related catastrophic injury or death. We are proud to have been able to help over 1,000 scholarship recipients to achieve their educational goals and continue on their journey in their chosen careers. On Friday, October 14, 2022, we will come together to celebrate the mission of KCPA, the students who we have helped and all the individuals and companies who have supported us in our goal of #moremoneyformorekids.

Friday, October 14, 2022 – 6-11pm
6:00pm – Cocktail Hour, Raffle Sales & Auction Bidding Opens
7:00pm – Dinner, Keynote Speaker, Awards Presentation
9:00pm – Dancing with Live Music Provided by Element 22, Raffle Sales and Auction Bidding
10:30pm – Raffles Awarded and all Auction items close (to donate an auction item, click HERE for the form)

Introducing our Keynote Speaker – Suzanne Emmet